Control Review: Fantasy Island

I, Dalton Lewis, didn’t hate Fantasy Island, currently at ten percent (yikes!) on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics seem a little crazy to me — a mentally ill person. They jump on bandwagons and favor surface stories a little too much for me. They like all Marvel, all Oscar contenders, and oh, yes, they hate — really hate — horror. This movie creates likable characters and puts them in terrible danger and watches them try to survive said terrible danger. I don’t know why they didn’t give this movie three solid stars. I certainly would.

Fantasy Island starts as young Melanie (Lucy Hale) and a group of strangers gather at a tropical resort to have their greatest fantasies granted. Two of them want a party, someone else says that she wants a redo of a day that went poorly, one wants to play at soldier, and Melanie wants revenge on a childhood bully. They are given various rewards and gifts from Mr. Rourke, the head of the island, who says that he is saving his beloved with the power of the island. The fantasies go sideways in a number of unexpected ways, and horror violence ensues.

I liked the characters, and that’s a good start to a film. They begin to get what they want — a huge party happens and then goes sideways. The violent conflict involves a father and a son, and I liked the interaction between them. There’s a scene in which they try to argue over who dies for the cause, and I liked that. Melanie tortures her childhood rival until it gets creepy and then tries to rescue her. How far should one go to apologize for these things? I’ve apologized for bullying someone and was immediately forgiven, but that’s not how movies work. It takes a full five minutes of movie time to be forgiven.

The solution of how the mystery works turned out to be a little much — I won’t give it away but they figure out how the island works. I wanted that to be a little more of a mystery. The story plays out like an action film as much as a horror movie — and I know that PG-13 horror needs to be a little sterile and tame compared to the R movies. I just think that a little more dread should have happened.

The interactions between the characters convinced me that the movie was good. Father and son talk about life, and son tries to overcome cowardice. A woman apologizes for failing to save an upstairs neighbor. A man wants a last moment with his wife — over and over again. A woman regrets losing the love of her life. These moments gave the story some weight.

Overall I didn’t mind the movie like I thought that I would. I don’t know why it’s at ten percent on Rotten Tomatoes. I think that if you want an okay horror movie you can give this one a try.

Thanks, and take care, friends.